DECORATING WITH PINTEREST

I moved into my new place last week and have since devolved into a complete lunatic. Well, a decorating lunatic. I spent multiple hours searching online for drapery hardware the other day, ordered seven different linen swatches from Restoration Hardware, and I'm pretty sure I broke my rotator cuff painting my room—6 hours to go from 'burnt custard' to 'lustrous white' (but it was worth it!) God bless the discovery of a Home Depot in my backyard.

The building is five blocks down from my last place here in South Slope, Brooklyn. It's not my dream location, but beggars can't be choosers and the price was right, plus my roommates are great and the apartment itself isn't half bad. I can already tell this space will have a much different vibe from my last apartment (seen here and here.) I feel relieved to have only one room to work on and an actual budget. I'm here for a year, so my goal is to get everything pretty much perfect within these first two months and then sit back and relax. Unless I decide to redecorate, but that's neither here nor there.

LIVING WITH STYLE

1stdibs and Bonnie Tsang recently held a Pinterest contest where participants could design their dream living room using their favorite finds on 1stdibs and other interiors-related content on Pinterest. I eagerly partook in the festivities and had more fun than I care to admit - I think I finally understand why boys play video games. Hunting through the impeccably designed and marvelously functional 1stdibs site trying to find the perfect antique Italian brass table lamp, or the most delicious Japanese textile, knowing that there could be a prize at the end if I played my cards right...maybe this is the rush of Halo 4, no? Maybe?

The detail shot above was something of an abstract starting point for me. I love the lamp, the molding on the walls, the lines of the furniture and the simple, sheer window treatments, not to mention the rich warmth of the wood...and that light! I wanted to create a space characterized by down-to-earth glamour, where form and function could co-exist in "luscious simplicity." I found myself drawn to geometric patterns in textiles, art deco influences and unexpected sculptural elements to add texture and depth. (Love the vintage Noh mask below - and how great is that marble surfboard!?)

I included art from Landon Metz, because I love his work...the color, the technique! (Click image for source.)

And I included other decorative art and objects, like these framed drawings. I've been saving every scrap of paper that could ever have sentimental value to me for years now. It's a veritable buffet of drawings and notes that I'll one day have uniformly framed and displayed, gallery style, and it'll look awesome. And would you look at that chair? That is such a beautiful f*cking chair. I can't with this chair. I can't even. There will of course also be plants, stacks of magazines and other reading materials meticulously arranged in corners.

I love the idea of some elements in the room having a raw or industrial feel juxtaposed against the considered design of midcentury pieces and gold and brass features. The patchwork boro textile, a Japanese folk fabric, would add to that raw, recycled aesthetic and look great hanging on a wall, maybe even framed!

Contest winners are announced next week and I don't know what I'll do if I win, aside from poop my pants and maybe buy some art? How do we like my dream living room? All images from my Living With Style Pinterest board.

ORIGINAL CONTENT

The Man Repeller shot by Vanessa Jackman

Lately I've been thinking a lot about original content. What is it? How do you create it? Why isn't there more of it? Debaters seem to get hung up on creation vs. curation vs. consumption. A blog can be everything and nothing; it can be sharply edited, wholly original and beautifully designed. Or it can be an unhinged pictorial f*ckfest, a.k.a. the Tumblr of any bored teen, inevitably publishing under the username "nuclearchanukah," or "crackponies" or something. Sometimes the photolog blogs are totally awesome repositories of otherwise easily missed gems (Stuff and Nonsense, Maryam Nassir Zadeh). They are wordless compendiums, purposefully detached from their creators and expressly for the purpose of curating links and images. Other times the blogs that really take off rely solely on sharing their favorite finds from around the web, slickly edited together (Honestly...WTF). A mix is oftentimes nice to find and a nice mix is what I strive for on this blog - hopefully that doesn't come as a surprise to my readers! Said mix is a big sticking point though, as "stolen inspiration" is digital piracy to some and simply sharing to others.

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DEAR INTERNET No. 24

My favorite food, fashion and design finds from around the web...

Read the full post, after the jump!

ARE WE INTERNET ENTREPRENEURS?

photo Garance Doré

Another one to file under, "I've been thinking about this for awhile," and I'm suddenly feeling called to action by a post this week at The Man Repeller. Blogger Leandra Medine's To Buy or DIY entry raised a critical point about thinking in the digital age re: the collective consciousness forums of Pinterest and Tumblr. The contemporary lexicon is constantly being modified with new ways to describe the act of non-thinking: we "reblog" and "repin," "retweet" and "share." We've all been given the chance to act as "curators" and "editors" - or have we? The most salient point raised in Medine's post, for me, was this idea that we are the, "Entrepreneurial Generation" (forgive all the quotes in this piece.) My question is: are we really, or do we just say we are? And what would that really mean?

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DEAR INTERNET No. 20

Oh, look! Asian guys! Where'd they come from? The internet. Long story short, I discovered two amaaaaazing new street style blogs that chronicle the sartorial splendor of my potential future husbands (here's looking at you, dude in picture 1), photographer James Bent's La Mode Outré (bottom photo) and Hoya Snap (top three).

Ah, Spring...the warmer weather makes me want a new bag, preferably akin to this sexy Dries Van Noten number.

I've been pinning lots of pretty gardens lately! Look at them here and dream about garden parties with me.

Also on Pinterest - I recently caved in and started a food board. It's mostly for the photography because cooking is hard, but these recipes from Hungry Ghost and Tartelette look so good they're bound to taste all kinds of wonderful.

Pictureplane is all I've been listening to lately. The video above is pretty much why the term "mindf*ck" was invented (latex bodysuit!), but the music is just awesome. Check him out on Soundcloud here.

All of the images in this post link back to their original site! Click through to see them in context...

DEAR INTERNET, XXL

An xxtra large Dear Internet...

1) This IS my fall/winter. Cape? Check. Hat? Check. Red as my accent color? Sure thing. This image brought to you by my new "pin board," over at Pinterest, which I dedicated to girls who dress like boys who dress like how I wanna dress. It's funny how all of these social media platforms are breeding weird combinations of each other - Pinterest is sort of like Tumblr meets Twitter meets a traditional pin board. A little confusing at first, but I've come around to it and now sort of want to get rid of my Tumblrs. Yikes, the internet!

2) Tom Ford's apartment in Paris.

3) Art by Landon Metz.

4) Pajama dressing: the next frontier? If socks are my new hot accessory and hats are my new wardrobe staple, then yes, pajama dressing is my next frontier. Stay tuned.

5) Smack my ass and call me Minkoff - this weekender from Rebecca Minkoff's Ben Minkoff line is everything.

6) Shoe porn. Through and through.

7-10) Some choice tracks from Au Revoir Simone, because I like them.

Happy Friday!